Okay, so I finally got tagged (twice in two days) so I should probably just fill this out and send it on. I don't have anything better to do, so here goes:

1. What time is it? 10:47 pm, a.k.a. past my bedtime2. What's your full name? Jennifer Lee Geek3. What are you most afraid of? Something bad happening to the people I care about. That and tripping in my Barbie Heels.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

I just filled six garbage bags full of crap that I thought I wanted to keep from my closet. Why I thought I needed to keep it, I'll never know. It would be in the dumpster already, except it's nearly midnight, and it's raining.

Truth be told, there are two rubbermaid totes that I should just dump into the garbage without even looking through. Honestly, if I haven't needed the stuff in there by now, I don't need it.

And about this raining business...

For crying out loud, it's December, and it has barely snowed. It snowed once, and it melted right away. I have the window open a bit, because it is hot in here, even with the heat turned down to 68°F. I found my rollerblades in the closet, and was thinking about going out tomorrow if the rain stopped. That's how nice it is. In IOWA. In WINTER.

Okay, my back is killing me, because I really overdid it on the whole closet thing. But, I feel like I really accomplished something tonight.

I've done the menus for the week, did the grocery shopping, and have started the laundry. Part of the laundry is the cotton drill that I bought yesterday, for my new corset. It's a very heavy fabric, almost like canvas, but not as thick and stiff. This should hold up much, much better than the old blue corset (which was nearly in pieces by the end of this faire season, with the plastic bones ripping through the fabric). It also wasn't terribly comfortable around the hips. This new corset will have tabs at the bottom, and straps, and should be loads more comfortable.

I could not sleep again last night. There shouldn't have been any problem with that, as I got up early yesterday, and we spent the morning shopping, and the afternoon with friends. I was still up past midnight, though. I forgot to set the alarm this morning, so I overslept. Not happy about that.

Oh well, I have to go throw stuff in the dryer. I am anxious to get started on this project. Once I finish this, I can take new sets of measurements while wearing the corset, and I can start planning my new gown. Yippee!!! I have some practice fabric that I will be using (um... three brocade tablecloths that I got on clearance at Target for $5 each. 20 yards of fabric, for $15 is not bad). I also found fabric for at least one new set of sleeves and a forepart (another brocade tablecloth, that I actually really, really like).

Friday, December 29, 2006

We went to Hancock Fabrics in Ankeny today, to order my dressform. I ended up having to get a different one than I really wanted, as the one I really wanted has been DISCONTINUED. :( This one should be okay, but I am going to have to pad it to get the squishibility that I need. I ended up getting a 10% discount, because i bought a specific magazine, too. So, I saved over $13, and did not have to pay any shipping. The only bad news is that it is going to take two weeks to get to the store, as it is a warehouse item.

Before we went to Hancock, though, we hit the Walmart and Target, in Ankeny, in search of the Wii. No luck. When we got back to Ames, we went to Best Buy, Target, Walmart and finally... GameStop.

GameStop. Sigh.

The GameStop didn't have any in stock, but they had received two shipments of the Wii this week.

!!!

We were looking in the wrong place! We had considered going to the mall, Wednesday and yesterday, to the GameStop, but were so worn out after our early morning vigils that by the time the mall opened, the last thing we wanted to do was go there.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Back in August, when I was frantically getting my noble garb sewn, I had to make a hat. I was in such a hurry, that I cut using the actual pattern pieces, rather than just tracing off the size that I needed. I kept the cut-off parts, so I could splice them back together. Then, I got even busier, with performing, and other things, that the pieces stayed in their envelope, not quite forgotten, but definitely neglected.

What's worse is that this pattern was from my Margo Anderson patterns. In other words, it was more expensive than your average patterns. Eeek.

Anyway, I have been thinking about making a new dress, sleeves, forepart and smock, and my thoughts turned to that poor, butchered pattern. It needed to be fixed before I could move on... (this was the hat that the owner of our faire liked a lot!) So, tonight, I got out my tracing paper, my tape, and colored pencils, and I spliced, traced, and labeled until they are back together again.

Whew.

In any case, tomorrow I am going to go order my dressmaker's form. I have done a bit of research, found out the strengths and weaknesses of the three major types, and did a 180 on my original choice (after finding out that the numbers on the knobs tended to not be accurate, that the adjustements sometimes slipped, and that the stands were flimsy. If I am going to spend that type of money, it has to last, and has to be able to hold up 40 pounds or more of gown). I am still trying to decide between the Singer 150, and the Dressmakers Fit models. The Singer model adjusts for the neck to waist measurements, as well as the usual measurements. I can't tell if the Dressmakers Fit form does that, but it looks like it is corsetable (which is necessary). It's also cheaper by about $30. I guess I will find out tomorrow which one I will be buying. The Hancock Fabrics' website did not have the size I needed in the Dressmakers Fit form, so hopefully the store will, or can order it for me.

I really don't want to start this new project without a dressform, mainly due to the difficulties of trying to hem a skirt that has to go over a farthingale. Last time, I had to build something in my living room, and it still didn't end up right.

I hope they have it in stock, as my fingers are itching to sew. I would have done this already, except for our pre-dawn excursions the last couple of days. They just wiped me out...

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Hey, we're doing the thing again in the morning where we get up early and go wait in line for something that will probably not arrive.

Seriously, though. What a bonding moment... When the cop car showed up, and I was thinking how I was going to explain what we were doing sitting in front of a closed store that early without laughing... when the cop jumped out of the car with a shopping bag and something with a tag still attached, then realized that the store was still closed... the crow invasion... Good times, good times...

"Mom, we have to go earlier tomorrow!" Pleading, begging, those big, green, puppy eyes. How could I say no? I'm on vacation for crying out loud. It's not like we have anything else to do, or anyplace to be.

Forget the fact that I have walked around in a daze all day, due to the lack of sleep, and inability to nap. Hey, I also forgot to go to the grocery store, so I guess we're having soup or cereal for supper. I knew I had forgotten something important...

1. Rib cook off= three way tie. Good eats!2. Christmas Eve mass - gorgeous!3. Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma P's - great until my niece got sick with the stomach flu.4. Christmas morning = Santa won as far as my son was concerned.5. My niece was still sick. :(6. Christmas dinner at Granny's - very good! And I won my pretty red throw blanket in the gift exchange.7. My niece was still sick, but is in pretty good spirits as she and her parents leave for her other grandma's house. :(8. Christmas night - fell asleep on the couch watching Cars. Movie Star called. She's sick. But still wants me to go to some frat party with her in a week... wth?? No!9. This morning, my niece goes to the ER, and is then admitted to the hospital for dehydration. :( She'll be there a couple of days, but she should be fine. Ug.

Early this morning, Dad and Scott fired up the grills. In a few short hours, we will be sitting down to judge two different styles of ribs, and shortly after, we'll be moaning about our overstuffed stomachs. It's okay, though, since we are not eating dinner, just snacks at my grandma's house later. And yes, T, there may be cheese sauce there. :)

The only bad note to this day so far, is that I seem to have developed a case of the sneezes. Yuck. At least I slept well! The new futon is extremely comfortable. And it's a good thing I did, because I'll be sleeping on the floor of the living room tonight, waiting for Santa to show up and bring me my Official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

So last night, I couldn't keep my eyes open past 7:30, and I slept in until 8:15 this morning. Tonight, I am still awake, and can't sleep.

My legs ache, and I have a headache, and my arms ache, mostly from sitting on the floor during a rather strenuous game of Monopoly (during which I spent an inordinant amount of time in jail, go figure!).

I can't sleep. I have to be awake in 5 hours. No later, as I have a bunch of things that have to be done tomorrow. Too much buzzing around in my head. Too much sleep last night.

Okay, time to stop babeling and take a tylenol PM. I swear I never used to have problems like this. I could go to bed at 10, get up at 6, and think nothing of it.

Friday, December 22, 2006

I am amazed at the amount of stuff I have accomplished this morning. My kitchen is clean. The living room is clean, the dining room is clean, my room is clean.

My son attempted to clean his room, but whoa, do we have a lot of work to do in there (shoving things to the edges of the room is not cleaning!). I went in to tell him so, and found him curled up under his loft, sleeping. So maybe it can wait a bit.

We are going to go shopping this afternoon, for our stocking stuffers. This is a tradition we started a couple of years ago. Each of us has $10 to spend on ourselves, to fill our stocking. We can also buy things that we both want, to share. We shop at Goodwill, Target, and Walmart (if we have to, ug). Usually we can find brand new books at Goodwill for $.59, and last year I found a ton of jewelry in Target that was in the dollar bins (and ended up being used on my noble dress for the ren faire). It is amazing how far $10 will go if you are really careful. Both of us look forward to our stockings on Christmas Day.

Best of all, it is a time for us to talk, and have fun, without being in a rush. While everyone else is fighting over the last "Tickle me Elmo" doll, we are goofing off, and finding weird things to fill our stockings. Lots of fun!

I just have to remember to actually get them into the car this year. Last year, I let them at home. Whoops!

Last night, I fell asleep on the couch at around 7:30. I woke up at around 9, then went into my room to get something. I sat down on my bed for a minute, then curled up on top of the quilt, and promptly fell asleep again. When I woke up at 10:30, I went to the living room, discovered a huge paper mess and my son asleep on the couch. I woke him up, and made him go to bed.

I slept until nearly 8:15 this morning. I feel like I had way too much sleep. I need to get busy and get my stuff done around the house, so I can be ready for Christmas. But, Day 1 motivation is pretty low at this moment. I think I'm going to have to get out my iPod shuffle and let music help out today. Lots to do, and I want to have time left to have fun today.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Sugar cookies have joined the finished list. Whew. I had the cut-out cookies last on the list, because if I had done them first, I would have thrown in the towel, and nothing else would have come out of my kitchen for the next three weeks. I love to eat them, hate to make them.

It isn't that the dough is hard to put together. It isn't even the rolling and the cutting.

It's the damn frosting and decorating that takes way too long. This is the type of thing that you really need another person working with you, so you have someone to talk to, and a way to make it fun. Otherwise, it just sucks.

I think I may just not make them this year.

So, I am going to wait a few minutes, throw the beer bread together, and get it in the oven before it's time to make dinner.

Yesterday ended up being a day where almost nothing got done. I did the grocery shopping. I wandered around the Antique Mall. I had a headache, went home, and went to sleep for a couple hours. I made dinner, and stayed up way too late watching Battlestar Galactica episodes, while crying my way through half a box of kleenex.

So, today I had to get my a$$ in gear, as it is one week until Christmas Eve. I did laundry until the laundry soap ran out. Then, I got to work on the holiday baking.

I cleaned the ceiling fan in the dining area this morning. Since three of the light bulbs burnt out in the course of a few weeks (um... maybe months, but I just noticed it a couple of weeks ago), I decided to change them. It uses normal sized bulbs.

The problem is, the actual sockets that the bulbs screw into actually rotate.

As in, when you try to unscrew the bulb, the socket twists the same way. Meaning, the bulbs are not actually coming out of the sockets.

This is a problem, for obvious reasons.

I don't remember this being an issue last time a bulb burnt out. Maybe my dad was here and replaced them for me... Anyway, I did manage to get one out by carefully grasping the socket with my fingers, and then had a similar problem trying to get the new one in. I still don't think I got the new one in all of the way, but it turns on, so I am not going to worry about it. The other two seem to be closer to the top of the shade, and I can't get my fingers in well enough to hold the socket while I remove the bulbs.

It is obvious now that one should use small bulbs rather than normal sized ones. However, there were normal sized bulbs in it when I moved in, so I assumed that it needed normal bulbs. I am going to make it a goal to get these bulbs replaced with smaller ones during vacation. No idea how to do it, other than turning off the circuit that the fan uses, so I don't have to be so paranoid about accidentally touching the metal.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

We got home late last night, and I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at around 2:30, because some of my neighbors were having a party, and decided to see how fast their car could go in Park. Five times.

"Jesus, look at the smoke coming outta dat thing!!!!"

Yeah. Nice.

I started thinking about what to save when the apartment building started on fire due to a car fire in the parking lot.

After dragging myself to bed, I fell asleep pretty quickly, and didn't even move until about 9 this morning. I woke up with a terrible headache (and no, I didn't have even a glass of wine with dinner last night, but I did laugh a lot!). I don't know if I need more sleep, or got too much sleep. All I know is that my head hurts really badly, and I have a lot of stuff to do today, to make up for the last two weeks of craziness at work. All I want to do is take a bubble bath, and rest on the couch.

But, there is work to be done, so I will press on, and at least get the living room clean (I've kept up with the kitchen, but my son tends to destroy the living room on an hourly basis sometimes.).

Monday, December 11, 2006

I am hoping to remedy that tonight, after dealing with the laundry that did not get done on Saturday. I spent most of yesterday in my hometown (and had an absolutely incredible dinner with my parents and son!), after a very sleepless night. So, when I got home around 8:30, the last thing I wanted to do was laundry.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

I am back from my marathon shopping expedition. I had a late start, due to needing to head into work for awhile, then deciding to make pancakes for breakfast when I got home. So, it was 10:00 before I could bundle into the front-wheel drive sleigh and head off to do my Christmas shopping.

I went downtown to see what I could find, and ended up buying one thing. I had a great time in the shops, though. Cooks Emporium was great, as it smelled wonderful (they had given cooking demonstrations earlier). I left without buying anything, however.

Then, on to Target, where I got the inside scoop on when the next shipment of Nintendo Wii's are coming in. However, I am not in the mood to sit in the cold waiting. I did manage to get the game that my son really, really wanted. He knows that he probably won't be able to get the Wii until after Christmas, but he still wanted to get the game before they were out.

So, my son is pretty much finished, as far as gifts. The only thing I couldn't find was a reasonably priced Star Wars Lego set. In fact, all they had were the big sets. And non-Star Wars sets. I may go back and get him another tank from the Forces of Valor sets. I bought a WWII Jeep Willys set, which he'll like, but Target was low on the tank sets this year. I also went to Game Stop and found two games that he's been wanting for ages. He doesn't care if he gets used games.

As far as the rest of my list...

Well, the grab bag is taken care of, as are the lab monitors. The rest will have to wait until next weekend. :)

Folks, Christmas is just over two short weeks away. I have exactly ONE present bought for my son. ONE. I have presents for three of the 14 other people on my list bought and under the tree.

I am going to get up early, take care of the house, then put on my shopping shoes and go do some serious damage to the bank account. No clue what to get my co-workers. More fattening holiday goodies, just like every year, I think. They're guys, so they appreciate it. And I think my special sugar cookies for the main office (melt-in-your-mouth, and made with real butter). That helps a bit with the money budget, but is hard on the time budget.

Whoops. I forgot that I have 20 additional people on that list... My student employees! Okay, they're getting food goodies, too. I'll have to get some to them tomorrow night, so I catch everyone as they work during the week. They've been great this semester, and need a treat. Hmm... I'll have to think about it...

Still haven't quite decided on the grab-bag gift for my granny's house. José Cuervo Margarita mix? Or something more sedate...

But the hardest person to buy for is going to be Movie Star. I ended up with her name this year for the first time in years and years. And she doesn't want a Target gift card, since she works there. She wants something fun. No clue. Zip. Zilch. Nada. If you are reading this, Movie Star, please give me a hint? Somehow I don't think giving you a Barbie is going to cut it this year... (yes, it has probably been that long since I had her name).

Mom and Dad... no clue. I carefully looked at all of the pottery and woodcrafts that the students were selling this week, to see if there was something that would go well in the kitchen, but all of the colors were wrong, or the style was not right. I may hit the downtown stores to see if I can find something special for Mom. Dad is always a tough one to buy for.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

We went Christmas shooping tonight, and got three names crossed off of our list. I looked for something for our gift exchange at my granny's, but didn't really see anything that jumped out and said, "Buy me!"

This gift exchange... well. Legendary in our family. Somehow I usually end up with the socks and extension cords, or the hot sauce. The last couple of years, though, I've ended up with something nice. The goal is to buy a present that you would like to receive. That way, if you end up with your own, as you sometimes do, you won't regret it.

This year, I thought I would buy another throw blanket, as the beautiful red one that I bought for this last year was a highly sought after object. The way the game works is that everyone draws a number. The person who has the number 1 picks a present from the pile and unwraps it. The next person can choose to take the gift from the person, or open another. The third person can take a gift from either of the first two people, or open a different package. And so on. It can be really fun, and drawn out. We try to not make it boring.

As for what I am buying this year...

Well, it has lime in it, is from Mexico, and may end up being the most sought after gift in the history of our tradition of the game.

Top that, suckas!!!!

Note: You may all be thinking that I drink entirely too much. The truth of the matter is, I rarely ever drink, unless I am with my family, and then limit myself to no more than two. Usually, one is enough to make me drowsy, and who wants to miss time with family?

Monday, December 04, 2006

I had this craving earlier this evening (right about the time I was eating pancakes, because I hadn't had time to do the grocery shopping). I wanted biscuits and gravy, in the worst way.

I had this brainwave. I would make a batch tonight, then I would have plenty left over for breakfasts for the next couple of days.

After our meeting, we went to the store to get food for the week, and I bought sausage and pillsbury homestyle buttermilk biscuits. When we got home, I started the laundry, and then started frying the sausage, and baking the biscuits.

When I finished making the gravy, I decided that I was hungry enough to have some.

What I had forgotten to take into account, is the fact that I have eaten almost no meat in the last week, and that I certainly had not had anything with so much... to put this delicately... fat/grease/etc.

Needless to say, I don't feel very well right now... I should have just stopped at McDonald's tomorrow morning on the way into work...

Everything has been off today. Part of the reason is that, during this time of year, we have the labs open 24 hours a day. This means that I have to call the lab at 2:00 am, to make sure that the graveyard shift person arrived for work. It's always hard to get back to sleep afterwards.

Work was crazy busy, and I ended up staying an hour late, due to the various problems that had to be fixed before I left. I ended up asking one of the lab monitors to start the movies, as I did not leave work until the time I would normally get to back to work to start getting things set up. This meant I could go home and actually get dinner before having to be at my other meeting. I even took the time to wash and blow-dry my hair, as I had all kinds of dust and yuck in it from all of the stuff I had to deal with today. Sheer luxury!

In any case, I am waiting for laundry to dry, so I can fold it and put it away. Then, I am going to set the alarm for 2am, and read for about 5 minutes before I zonk out.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Any bets on how long it takes before I have a nervous breakdown? Because I am close.

I had to forgo shopping with my mom and sister today, because I was exhausted from this weekend, and had too many things to do before going in to work this evening. I have ZERO Christmas shopping down.

Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada.

Busiest time of the semester. I will have almost no time to myself for the next week. I am attempting to hold on to my sanity in the face of everything going wrong lately. My formerly charmed life is fast becoming difficult, and I am just sticking my chin up, taking deep breaths, and focusing on the long term rather than the immediate disasters.

I was never very lucky in big things, you know, like money, love, success. It was the little things, like finding a good parking spot, having things work, and not break on me, being able to walk into a room and having broken computers just suddenly decide to start cooperating, being good with kids... This semester, I have been joking all too often that I am just not having good luck, that I am a jinx now.

So if you know me in real life, and were wondering where that happy, carefree girl went. You know, the one who laughed and talked a lot, she's still here. She's just having a hard and stressful time right now. Give her a couple of weeks, and she'll relax.

All I know, is that I'd be a lot happier right now if I had at least a couple of presents wrapped and under the tree...